Visually appealing, aesthetically pleasing, and design-worthy are not typical descriptions of recycling facilities. But this metal recycling plant in Pivka, Slovenia, designed by Dekleva Gregoric Arhitekti, is a site for sore eyes and proves that processing facilities need only a bit of design to make them attractive. Designed specifically with the thought that in the future the whole facility might be recycled itself, the buildings are made of only concrete and metal, both easily processed materials.

When designing the facility, Deklava Gregoric decided to utilize long-lasting recyclablematerials like concrete and metal. Concrete is used to form the perimeter wall around the sorting plateau as well as the service building. Careful placing of the sorting plateau minimized earthwork as well as the concrete necessary to build the perimeter wall.

The control office is built out of steel and covered in a metal screen. Elevated above the sorting area, the control office is perched to monitor and supervise the weighing of the incoming waste and out-coming metals. Both the metal control office and the concrete service building are exactly the same volume, but starkly contrast each other in terms of material. This ‘poetic’ contrast speaks about the context of material separation process of the metal recycling plant. Then, if the facility was no longer needed, it could easily be dismantled and recycled itself.